


The Sight Of Your Voice - Epilogue

by MaevynRaven



Series: The Sight Of Your Voice [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Deaf Character, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, No Smut, Non-binary character, Sign Language, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:01:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27432424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaevynRaven/pseuds/MaevynRaven
Summary: Catra and Adora move into their new home together.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra)
Series: The Sight Of Your Voice [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2004163
Comments: 4
Kudos: 68





	The Sight Of Your Voice - Epilogue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey folks! This is just going to be a little two part follow up to The Sight Of Your Voice, set several years after the ending. If you haven’t read the main story, you may want to before moving on to this. Enjoy <3

Adora slammed down the box with a thud. They winced slightly as they realized that whatever was inside was probably fragile. Ah well, if anything had shattered Catra would let them know later. 

Standing up, she stretched, placing her hands on her lower back and leaning against the stiffness brought on by a day full of carrying boxes and furniture and whatnot in from the moving truck. She glanced around at their handiwork. It was late afternoon by now, and the very last of their personal items were in the last box she had just set down. Clutter filled the spacious room she stood in. The hardwood floors were littered with assorted items and storage units. 

They jumped slightly as they felt slender arms reaching around their stomach, hands clasping in front of them as someone leaned into their back. They smiled and rested their hands over the fingers that were now pressed against their torso, leaning back slightly on their heels to acknowledge the presence against them. 

Catra was clearly tired; though she had done her best to preserve her cool aura of uncaring in their first few weeks together, she had long since given up and become a cuddly mess, and she became particularly needy whenever she was sleepy. Adora teased her about it but she thought it was probably the most precious thing in the world, and her heart absolutely soared whenever it occurred. 

A warm light was bathing them through the windows and open door. A warm breeze blew past, pleasant spring air gently rustling their clothes, accompanied by the smell of flowers. Adora let out a long sigh of contentment. Twisting around, she turned to look down at Catra.

She saw her face beaming up at her. Her hair was long, tied back in a long and messy ponytail aside from the tufts she let hang to either side of her face. Freckles danced across her nose and cheeks, standing out against her smooth, dark skin. Those two stunning eyes stared back up at her, and the pure and obvious look of love and affection in them made Adora almost melt with joy. Every time she looked at Catra she was reminded just how lucky she was.

They reached up a hand and placed it on Catra’s cheek, gently stroking her face with their thumb. The two stood, resting against each other and staring into each other’s eyes contentedly. Adora couldn’t help the smile that spread across their lips. This was their new home. A new start, just for them. They felt the cool metal of a ring pressing against their finger, a simple golden band nestled snugly on the finger just next to their pinky. 

Adora leaned forward and placed her forehead against her wife’s. Their noses touched and she could feel a faint rumbling as Catra was clearly giggling. About what, she didn’t know, but she joined her, unable to control the pure joy that was filling every part of her. It was almost surreal, and even though she had been with Catra for years it still felt like she was meeting her for the first time every time she woke up and looked over to see her laying next to her. 

It had been nearly a decade since that night in the clearing beneath the stars, and Catra and Adora had been working hard to achieve their mutual dream of building a life together. They’d gotten married earlier that year, on the anniversary of their stargazing date. It had just been the two of them and the officiant, who just so happened to be Scorpia, Catra’s old roommate and close friend. They had all gone out to that same clearing under the same stars, and Scorpia left them alone shortly after she officially married them.

Gods, how furious Bow and Glimmer had been when they told them that they had gotten married in secret and not invited them. But truthfully, this meant more to them. This way, it was something just for them. It wasn’t a show for others, wasn’t meant to be put on display. This moment was something they agreed they wanted to be special and secret. An experience for just Catra and Adora, in a place that was special to them both. 

Even now that the seasons had progressed from early winter to late spring, Adora could barely even believe that it had happened at all. Every day she had the experience of holding Catra, and having the thought echo over and over in her mind: “This is my wife. My wife. I’m married to her.”

Catra had caught them just staring and smiling countless times, and on each occasion she’d rolled her eyes and muttered some unheard insult, but their goofy grin was clearly infectious as it always made its way onto her face too. 

Moving back now, Adora placed her hands on Catra’s hips. Her wife leaned in and placed the side of her head against Adora’s chest. This is how they often found themselves, enjoying each other’s company in contemplative silence. Neither had much to say, they just wanted the moments to last as long as possible. Now that they had finished unloading their last box into their new house, they had time to relax and unwind. 

Catra moved back after an indeterminate amount of time. She signed up Adora, still smiling sleepily. 

“I’m gonna try and find some pots so we can have some dinner. Any idea which box we put them in?”

Adora scanned her surroundings, completely unsure. The two had tried to organize things by what should go in each room, but to be honest they had both forgotten to keep up with that by box number five. 

“I’m sure they’re here somewhere. I guess we can just start opening boxes until we find them.” 

Catra nodded, and without a word the two of them began their search in earnest, moving across the house in opposite directions. Catra went towards the kitchen, as that was their best bet, but just to be sure Adora began rustling through boxes in the living room that doubled as an entrance hall. 

_ How do we even have this much stuff?  _ They wondered.  _ We only have things from two apartments! _

The first box they checked was filled with towels, the next with board games. Adora wasn’t really sure whose they were, but they shrugged and continued looking. 

One full of cutlery, one full of the band posters Catra had adamantly refused to throw away, one full of the stuffed animals Glimmer had given Adora throughout the years… aha! She felt metal sliding against metal as she opened a box to reveal their assorted pots and pans. Smiling smugly, she heaved it up and began lugging it into the kitchen. 

They nearly bumped into the opening in the walls that lead to the smaller room, but managed to set the box onto a nearby chair without dropping it. Catra was standing up from her own failed investigation, closing the cardboard box of what appeared to be gardening tools. Adora had no idea why they had those, neither they or Catra had ever expressed any interest in horticulture. Clearly moving was revealing all of the unnecessary clutter they never knew they had before.

Catra reached into the box Adora had brought and plopped a wide, flat pan down on the burner of the stove top. She opened the pantry to find it empty, as they had not yet loaded any food into it. Catra opened her mouth in what appeared to be a groan of frustration. 

“Lend us a hand, will you?”, she signed and began reaching into the line of plastic bags that contained the unpacked groceries. Adora nodded and complied.

  
  


After 20 minutes of confused chaos and arguing about organization, they had finally found a place for everything. The pair stood back and nodded, satisfied with their work. Catra’s hand made its way to Adora’s lower back, and they flung an arm over her shoulder in response, laughing as Catra squirmed. She finally managed to shove her off and nearly tripped backwards on an open box full of plates. Still chuckling, she made a shooing motion at Adora.

“I half-assed the moving today,” she signed, “so you go sit and I’ll cook. I owe you for getting all those heavy boxes that I skipped out on.”

“Hey, I don’t mind helping,” she offered. Catra raised an eyebrow.

“Adora, I love you, but the last time you ‘helped’, we had to call the fire department.”

Adora scoffed in mock indignation. 

“Come on Catra, that was  _ one  _ time! And it wasn’t even a fire, it was just smoke! A lot of smoke.”

Catra continued staring at Adora, hands on her hips.

“Okay okay it was a fire. I’ll be in the living room. You win, are you happy with yourself?”

Catra grinned her aloof, stupidly beautiful toothy grin. Adora had to steel herself from kissing her there and then.

“Actually, I am quite happy with myself. Now get!”

She turned and began reaching for the knife block. Adora smiled to themself as they turned and walked into the hall. Meandering slowly and taking in the sight of the living room, they walked over and closed the front door. Turning back, they glanced around for a place to sit among the clutter. They were able to locate a spot on the couch, if they pulled their legs up off the floor and sat in the farthest corner. 

After several moments of tapping her fingers against the armrest, Adors stood up again. She had never liked sitting still. Moving over to a random box, she decided to busy herself by beginning the process of unpacking. She reached in and pulled out a framed photograph. 

It depicted 6 people, all laughing and smiling. In the middle were Catra and Adora. Scorpia was sitting off to the right, and Bow and Glimmer were leaning in from the left. Entrapta was positioned closest, and was clearly the one taking the shot. She was standing as the rest crowded around the very sofa that now stood behind Adora. A tray of donuts was resting on the table in front of them, and they had been frosted with letters that spelled out “CATRADORA.”

It was a photograph of a surprise party that their roommates had thrown on Catra and Adora’s first anniversary. They all looked much younger then. Catra’s hair was still short, and Adora didn’t know whether she was more beautiful with it long or not (she had long ago decided that Catra was in fact stunning both ways). Adora looked slightly shorter, and her hair was still pulled back into a tight pony tail and signature hair poof. She now wore it in a slightly varied style, partially tied and swooped out of her face. Her hair was also much longer now. 

Bow and Glimmer were barely recognizable as the same people. Bow had grown to be significantly stronger and has also changed up his style quite a bit. Glimmer had moved to a slightly more subtle color pallet for her clothing, and now kept her hair shorter and more in check. 

The photo always made Adora smile. It filled them with nostalgia, to see how Catra had grown during their years together. Her smile had remained the same, though, her smile and her eyes. Adora could swear whenever they closed their own eyes they could see those breathtaking blue and gold irises staring back at her from beneath their closed lids. 

She hung the framed photograph on the wall across from the couch. She wanted it to be there, where it could be seen at any time. She wanted to fill this wall with all the memories she and Catra had made, bringing their past with them to decorate their future. She felt the hint of tears tugging at her eyes as she was once again reminded of how much joy and fulfillment her life was filled with.

  
  


As they gazed thoughtfully at the picture, their nose was greeted with the smell of something absolutely delicious. It smelled savory and slightly spicy. Though Catra had instructed them to wait in the other room, Adora couldn’t resist wandering over to peer into the kitchen. Catra was hard at work, back turned to them. She appeared to be multitasking 3 things at once, chopping peppers and onions on a cutting board, stirring together assorted meats in bubbling butter, red slowly sizzling as it turned brown, and occasionally reaching over to check on a pot of rice cooking in the corner. Adora had to resist an audible reaction to the realization that Catra had slipped on an apron. She looked adorable. 

Curiosity unfulfilled, she stayed and hovered in the entranceway, fixated on how smoothly Catra worked. Adora always jokingly protested when Catra insisted she was the chef of the house, but she couldn’t argue that her skills far outmatched her own. Adora tried her best, but she couldn’t compete. Catra had moved onto a fourth task now, leaning over something on the counter. Was it a piece of paper? Maybe she was making notes on a recipe. 

Without turning to face them, Catra held up the sheet of paper as she picked her wooden spoon back up and began tending her pan. There were large, capital letters written on it in black ink.

I KNOW UR THERE WIFEY

Oops. Adora cursed the fact that Catra could hear as she conceded her defeat. She was almost positive Catra was grinning victoriously even though she did not turn to face Adora. They turned and walked back into the living room, deciding to continue unpacking. 

  
  


After a while, Catra entered the living room. Adora was sad to see that the apron had been removed. She was clutching two plates piled high with food: stir fry over a bed of white rice, and bread rolls on the side. The rolls were admittedly frozen and reheated, but they were delicious nonetheless. Adora had cleared out the couch and coffee table, so Catra came over and set the steaming dishes down. Adora smiled softly to themself. This had been the first dish they had ever made together, in Catra’s apartment. Adora had mostly helped by staying out of the way, but they had still had a lovely time and the end result was delicious. 

This looked and smelled even better, clearly Catra had taken some liberties to add some new ingredients and seasonings. Adora felt her stomach rumble and realized she hadn’t eaten since before they had arrived, which was late that morning. She couldn’t resist immediately digging in. She saw Catra rolling her eyes as she nearly scorched herself on the first mouthful. The food tasted even more delicious than it smelled. Perhaps it was how hungry Adora was, or maybe she was still riding the high of this new chapter of her life opening, but either way, she began wolfing it down as fast as she could manage without scorching her tongue. 

“Glad to see my handiwork is being appreciated,” remarked Catra, who was taking her time with her food. She pulled the plate onto her lap, leaning back against the sofa and crossing her feet up on the coffee table. She seemed more interested in watching Adora than actually eating. Adora didn’t mind, she wasn’t about to complain about having such an amazing girl fixated on her. By the time Adora finished her first plateful, Catra was only about halfway done. Catra had laughed as Adora rose to go get seconds, to which she shot a sarcastic middle finger. Childish as ever, Catra had returned the gesture, determined to always get the last word in. 

After the two of them had finished their meals, they sunk back into the cushions. Their long day of heavy lifting was finally catching up with them, and they were both exhausted. At some point, Catra scooted over so she could lay down with her head on Adora’s lap. Adora sleepily ran her fingers through Catra’s hair, eyes fixated on the way the golden light of the sunset through the window reflected on the shiny surface of her wedding ring. 

The peace that filled them at that moment was unlike any other comfort they had felt before. Adora was sitting on a comfy couch, full from a luxurious meal, in a home they had bought with the help of the girl they loved, who they were  _ married  _ to, and who was curled up against them, sleepily smiling. Though the room was cluttered and disorganized, Adora felt so at home here that they never wanted to rise again. They were perfectly content to sit here with Catra for the rest of time. 

Their bed was currently a pile of disassembled pieces and a mattress on the floor of their bedroom, so the two of them saw no need to stand from their spot. The photos of a younger Catra and Adora, surrounded by all their friends, smiled at them from the wall across from the couch. The walls around them didn’t make this a home, nor did the roof above them, the kitchen or the bedroom or the couch. What made this home was the memories they had brought with them, and the memories they would make in the future. What made this home was Catra.

The girl who always kept her promises. Who lit up every second of Adora’s life. The girl with whom she had shared both her most vulnerable and her happiest moments. Who pushed her to always be the best version of herself that she could achieve. Whose presence soothed Adora’s discomfort, and filled her with the kind of joy that made one want to dance and skip and just yell at the sky for no reason. 

The girl who had said “yes,” and then, a few months later, with all the stars in the universe as their witness, had said “I do.”

The girl who had now drifted off into sleep in her lap. Night had fallen, and Adora could feel the gentle rise and fall of Catra’s chest next to them. Her slow, even breaths rustled the hairs that had fallen into her face. Adora thanked every star in that clearing for the life they had together. Shifting slowly so as not to disturb their wife, Adora slowly moved Catra’s head and slid down so that they were laying next to her. Thankfully, their couch was extra wide, and was roomy enough to fit two. She wrapped a protective arm around Catra’s stomach and buried her nose into the familiar comfort of the back of her neck.

Ever since the night of Adora’s panic attack all those years ago, (not the only one, but the first of many that saw Catra come to her rescue) this had been their established sleeping position. Catra had admitted to Adora that having her strong arms holding her made her feel safe and at home, and Adora’s heart leapt every time she thought about that. Her face always found its place against Catra, though she occasionally had to adjust in order to retain a connection between the air around them and her lungs as Catra grew her thick hair out once again. 

  
  


And that was how they spent their first night in their new home. Adora and Catra both already felt as if they had lived here their whole lives, and the mess of boxes didn’t inhibit the pure feeling of “home.” Each counted their blessings to themselves as they found themselves falling asleep lovingly against their partners, in their new little piece of heaven. 

This was the common ground between Adora’s grove and Catra’s rooftop. This was home.

—————————————————

Adora was awoken by the early rays of dawn’s sunlight shining directly into their face. They generally didn’t mind rising early, but the call of a new day meant being tugged from their warm, comfy spot on the couch, and away from Catra’s still-sleeping form. Unfortunately, once they were up, Adora was almost never able to doze back off. Despite squinting desperately against the light noisily lighting up the kitchen window, Adora was unable to grab onto the comfort of sleep once more. Slowly sitting up, making sure not to shift the couch too much, Adora awkwardly clambered over Catra and stood up. 

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Adora was suddenly met with an idea. The sight of two dirty plates on the coffee table reminded her of the dinner Catra had made yesterday. If Catra got the satisfaction of making the first meal in their new home, Adora would get the satisfaction of the first breakfast. Plus, she knew having her sleepy wife awaken to freshly prepared food would definitely win her some points in their ongoing competition to out-do one another.

Padding over to the counter, she surveyed her options. She would have to be quiet so as not to wake Catra. Unfortunately, Adora was not the most well equipped to gauge the amount of sound she was making, so she settled for being extra careful and taking her time. Locating a set of clean pans, she did her best to move them from the box to the stove without knocking them together. Her plan met a hitch right off the bat as she nearly tripped over another box on the floor. Steadying herself, she managed to get the stove set up. 

Watching Catra’s effortless multitasking had inspired them to underestimate the difficulty of preparing multiple different foods at once. They assembled all the ingredients they would need: lots of butter, several eggs, a few strips of bacon, a jar of oats. After spending a good 15 minutes trying to locate the measuring cups, Adora rolled up their sleeves and began to cook. 

She bit her lip and furrowed her brow in concentration as she began, oats in one pot in the back left burner, add water, set on low heat. One down. Preheat the two pans in front, add a copious coating of butter to one. She set the bacon strips down in the pan without butter; she remembered making food with her adoptive mother Razz when she was a child, and had learned that bacon was not to be cooked in oil or any other pan coating. Cracking a pair of eggs and whisking them into a bowl, she poured them into the now bubbling butter in the third and final pan. 

The second problem arose as they were adding bits of ham and shredded cheese into the beginnings of the first omelet: glancing over to the back burner they realized they had left the oatmeal on for too long. It was beginning to expand outward and looked dry. Panicking, they reached over to pull it off the heat. Thankfully, it was able to be saved with a dash of milk stirred in. Setting it onto the stove away from the burner, they turned their attention back to their other tasks. 

In her panic, she had forgotten to use a spatula to keep the edges of the eggs from sticking to the pan. This resulted in a disappointing rupture as she attempted to flip the omelet in half, and it ended up looking more like she had been aiming for scrambled eggs. You know what? That was fine. Grabbing her whisk, she broke apart the remaining structure and transformed it into a more sightly form. It wasn’t her original intention, but it would still work.

At this point in time, the smell of burning began to twinge the inside of her nostrils. Somehow everything was going wrong right now. Looking over to their bacon, they realized too late that their heat was too high and that they had let it sit on one side for far too long. Smoke was beginning to curl off the blackened edges. Desperate to save some part of this disaster, Adora tossed out the bacon and replaced it with sausages. It was a good thing they had had the forethought to go grocery shopping before moving in, so Adora was well equipped with many ingredients at her disposal. 

They stood back, eyes darting across the stove. Of course,  _ of course,  _ in the time it had taken for them to throw away the failed bacon, retrieve the sausages from the fridge, open the packaging, and toss them in, the eggs too had begun to share in the bacon’s fate. Letting out an audible groan of despair, Adora turned off all the burners on the stove. Clearly they were not cut out for cooking. They flinched as they felt a sudden contact with their shoulder. Adora whipped around to see a groggy looking Catra scratching her head and blearily surveying the scene before her. 

Adora instinctively tried to block her view as Catra began peering to the side to look at the mess, but she was unable to shield her line of sight in time. A look of something between pity and adoration crossed Catra’s face. Adora felt her face flush as she saw the telltale shaking of laughter in her shoulders. Catra reached up and patted Adora on the head. 

“I told you, maybe best to leave the cooking to me,” she signed with a wink. Adora put their hands on their hips. 

“Well excuse me for trying to do something nice for you! And it would have worked too, I just needed more time…” they trailed off, still embarrassed. They knew they shouldn’t feel this disappointed, but they really had been looking forward to waking up Catra with a nice breakfast. Still, Catra seemed much less phased than Adora. Placing her hands on her shoulders and leaning up onto her tiptoes, Catra gave Adora a quick peck on the forehead. Moving back, she nodded towards the steam drifting off the coffee pot and signed,

“At least you got one thing right.”

Slipping a hand into Adora’s, she led them over to the coffee machine, which was just finishing brewing. It was the one thing in this endeavour that both looked  _ and  _ smelled the way it was supposed to. Catra fished out two clean mugs from the mess of dishes strewn about and poured them both a full cup. She didn’t need to ask how Adora wanted it, because both Adora and Catra had the same each morning: a black coffee for Catra and two spoonfuls of sugar with a dash of cream for Adora. Coffee was the one beverage Adora counted as a “free pass” on healthy eating, as without copious amounts of dilution and added sweetness, they could barely choke down a single sip. 

They adjourned back to the living room, at Catra’s insistence that they could clean up the stovetop when it wasn’t “ass crack o’clock in the morning.” Adora had no idea what that meant, and was almost positive Catra had just made that up on the spot for emphasis, but she didn’t argue. Finding their normal positions on the couch, they began sipping their drinks. Catra was the first to sign anything after a long pause of them both trying to wake up. 

“So, what’s the plan for today? You wanna go anywhere?”

Adora nestled her mug down next to their old plates before answering.

“I think we’re gonna have to get everything unpacked sooner rather than later. If we don’t do it now we’ll be putting it off until we’re ancient and decrepit.”

Catra rubbed a temple with one hand.

“I know that you’re probably right but I still hate the idea.”

She took a particularly long gulp of coffee before continuing. 

“And Adora, I know I tease you, cus you’re a dork and you deserve it, but what you did this morning was really sweet. Even if it didn’t work out exactly as planned, I still appreciate it. And hey, now I have a perfect new story for any guests we have over!”

She jokingly nudged Adora’s arm. Adora rolled their eyes but shared in Catra’s smile. They agreed that this morning was still nice. They were still sharing it with Catra, and they had not caused a fire their first morning in the new house, so really, it couldn’t have been more perfect. The two finished their cups of liquid caffeine boosts before rising and beginning the slow process of extracting and organizing all of their belongings. 

—————————————————

Unpacking wasn’t nearly as bad as they had been expecting. Once they got into a rhythm, they were able to work in unison, tag-teaming each room one at a time. Occasionally a box would need to be relocated into the correct area, but aside from that they made good time. Adora had insisted on saving one box in the living room for last, and made Catra leave the room when she unloaded it. Catra didn’t check the label on the box, and shrugged as she made her way into the bedroom instead. 

They were pretty much done with everything else, so Adora had shooed Catra off to go hang out while they put together this last idea. The box they had left for last had been the same box they had pulled the framed photograph of their friends from. It contained pictures from numerous points in the life they shared together. Adora thoughtfully hummed as they began finding a place for each of them. It was the one stretch of wall in the house that was completely blank, and it was perfect for this display. Adora had had this planned ever since they and Catra had agreed on this house. They had worked extra hard to retrieve some of these, and they were eager to see Catra’s reaction to the end result. 

The process took her the better part of half an hour. She carefully adjusted each frame many times, until she could be certain they were all in the perfect place. Finally, she stepped back to admire her handiwork. She stuck her thumbs into her belt loops and drummed on the outlines of her pockets as she nodded approvingly. Pulling one last item from the box, she added to the center of the collage. She may have failed to make a decent breakfast, but this had gone just as well as she’d hoped.

Adora paced over to the bedroom to retrieve Catra. They found her sitting on the edge of the bed that they had assembled earlier, thumbing through the pages of a book absent-mindedly. They got her attention by waving a hand, and beckoned her to follow. Catra closed the book and replaced it onto the shelf as she slid down to the floor in order to follow. Adora stood back and watched as Catra entered the room and turned. They weren’t sure what reaction they were expecting, but it was not the one they got.

Adora had covered the wall with a moment representing each major part in their relationship, and the people they cared about on the way. They weren’t placed in chronological order, instead opting for a layout that best suited the space, so one had to spend some time searching to locate each moment.

There was a grainy security cam pic Adora had forced Glimmer to locate and give to her, a freeze frame that caught Adora and Catra mid-crash during their very first encounter with each other. A face of surprise and disgust was very clear on Catra’s face.

There was a photo of Catra, sitting on a couch looking irritated next to Scorpia and Entrapta. Adora had asked Scorpia in private of any photos of the Super Pal Trio before Catra and Adora met, and Scorpia was happy to oblige. 

Another depicted a landscape. There were no people in it, it was instead a nighttime shot of The Fright Zone, and was unmistakably taken from Catra’s rooftop getaway. 

There was a shot from Glimmer’s camera roll of Adora near seconds away from crashing into a pole, eyes glued to her phone. It didn’t take a PhD to deduce that she was so immersed in texting Catra that she had tuned out the rest of the world. (For the record, Adora had never officially forgiven Glimmer for taking a picture instead of warning her.)

The other photograph that depicted a place instead of a person was of course a shot of Adora’s starry grove. It had become a regular escape of theirs, alternating with Catra’s warehouse. Only Scorpia even knew it existed, and she insisted that she couldn’t remember the way to get there anyway. They had made sure that their new house wasn’t out of walking distance from either place. 

More and more photos covered the wall; a picture of Glimmer dressed in a tux proposing to Bow, a snapshot of Entrapta’s robot Emily in motion as she delivered the final blow in a robot fighting championship, a picture of a grumpy looking Catra with her hair just long enough to be tied into a tiny ponytail on top of her head (courtesy of Adora’s constant insistence that it would be precious), the Catradora donut anniversary party from before, a delirious looking Catra giving a peace sign after waking up from her bottom surgery, two hands holding up their matching rings, clearly Adora’s and Catra's. 

Many more smaller pictures of years worth of memories were tacked up around them, with space clearly left for more. In the middle, Adora had hung a wooden sign. They knew it was cheesy, but they had gone to Bow for whittling instructions so they could carve it themself. It was an ode to Catra and Adora’s reunion after their dinner set up by their roommates. Made from the dark wood of a tree that had recently fallen in The Whispering Woods, Adora had carved out the words “You make me better.”

  
  


As Catra’s eyes darted from picture to picture, Adora tapped her fingers together nervously. She was shocked to see her wife begin to cry as she looked over the collage of photographs. At first she couldn’t tell if it was a good cry or not, but that seemed to clarify itself as Catra threw herself into a hug, burying her face in the crook of Adora’s neck and gripping her tight. Adora leaned down and placed her head against the top of Catra’s, returning the hug and rubbing her back comfortingly. When Catra finally moved, it was not to speak, but instead to kiss Adora.

Only after that did she seem ready to begin signing.

“Adora, I don’t even know what to say. This is amazing. It’s beyond amazing, this is perfect. I never could have put together something like this.”

Adora felt slightly embarrassed but she couldn’t stop herself from beaming with pride. 

“I wanted something that would make this a home. I wanted to bring together all the little moments that are special to us. No one else will look at this wall and be able to feel what we do. This is my way of making this our third special place.”

Catra had already melted back into tears as Adora kept signing. She was  _ not _ the type to cry, Adora had only seen it happen once or twice before. Still, if this was a happy cry, it must have been a  _ really _ happy cry. Catra was still smiling up at her, staring into her eyes like she had every other time they were together. Adora still couldn’t fathom the sheer depth of the emotions Catra was capable of conveying through a look. 

“It’s perfect.  _ You’re  _ perfect. This place is perfect. Everything about this is all I could have ever dreamed of and more.”

Her glance turned to the wall once more, staring at each and every frame, as if soaking in the full experience of each one. Catra began signing the same sign over and over as she stared. Adora wasn’t sure whether Catra even realized she was doing it.

_ I love you. _

_ I love you. _

_ I love you. _

Adora saw Catra’s mouth move as she turned back to look at them, and they didn’t need to be able to hear to know that she was repeating her sign out loud, whether to Adora or to herself they didn’t know. Catra couldn’t seem to find any other words. She spent nearly an hour afterward going over each picture over and over as if she was memorizing every detail. She had sat down at some point, cross legged on the floor and looking upward. Adora had joined her, still full of pride at their successful move. Eventually they elbowed Catra gently. She started and looked over to Adora, looking almost confused as her trance was broken. Adora smiled politely at her.

“So, would you say this beats your dinner or…?”

Catra blinked for a moment as if the question had not yet computed in her mind. When she did seem to finally grasp it, she rolled her eyes and shoved Adora back.

“No, because I provided sustenance for my partner like a responsible adult, and you couldn’t even make eggs this morning. You’d starve without me and you know it.”

“Uh huh, but last time I checked I didn’t cry over your stir fry.”

“Don’t give me a reason to make you cry!”

“Oh please, like you would ever dare.”

They laughed as they shoved at each other, both ending up sprawling out on the floor and giggling. The fresh spring air blew in through the open window and sunlight spilled lazily onto the floor, blanketing them in a comforting warmth. Adora’s hand found Catra’s, and she moved so that they were side-by-side. She wouldn’t trade this for anything in the world.

She had everything she had ever dreamed of. Adora turned her head to look at Catra next to her. She saw that she was already staring at her, eyes meeting hers with a smile. Once again, any words Adora felt the need to speak seemed to flow to and from Catra through their gaze. Exchanging a conversation with her was sometimes as easy as just looking in each other’s direction. Adora placed gentle kisses on each of Catra’s cheeks. Their foreheads met and their eyes closed. 

The day may still be mostly ahead of them, but for now, they were content to bask in each other’s presence in their new home. Just then, this was all that mattered. This was all that would ever matter. 


End file.
